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Looting Pensions and Eating Seed Corn

One more thing Bush will be remembered for: getting rid of pensions.
And by the way, where do you think the money went? When Reagan started the process, tricking people into thinking that a 401K – you put your money in – was somehow better than a corporate pension – they put money in FOR you – corporate profits started the big rise. That was the beginning of a huge transfer from future retirements to the very rich. But that wasn’t enough, so the corporations also started underfunding their pension plans. Knowing they had a coming obligation they did not put the necessary money into the pension funds, instead sending the money to the top. And now, under Bush – who is still working to get rid of Social Security – corporations like United Airlines are cancelling pensions.
This is about OUR retirement savings, gone into the pockets of the Bush cronies. And what do the people who stole the pensions get? Tax cuts.
But wait, there’s more.

It’s not JUST our retirement savings that Bush is handing over to his cronies. You know that there is a huge budget deficit, but what do you think the budget deficit IS, anyway? Is it magic money from nowhere to pay for tax cuts for the rich, and the Iraq war? Of course not! Bush is borrowing trillions of dollars, handing it out to cronies (sometimes literally in duffel bags), and borrowed money has to be paid back with interest. Who do you think will have to pay that money back?
But wait, there’s more.
Our tax dollars built America’s infrastructure. Infrastructure is roads and bridges and water lines and schools and bank account insurance and regulations and all the things that support our economy. Every time a truck makes a delivery (sending profits upward) that truck drove on roads WE built. But are you and I – the public – sharing in the profits that come from the infrastructure we built? Who is our economy FOR, anyway? The corporations and rich are now largely excluded from paying taxes to maintain those roads, and America’s infrastructure is crumbling. By not investing in infrastructure, Bush and his cronies are “eating our seed corn.” So when we want to start rebuilding the infrastructure, who do you think will be paying?
We’ve all got a LOT to thank Bush and the Republicans for. And you’re going to have some long, impoverished years to think about it.